SMC leads NAIA bidding

By J.Lo

“Only three bidders’ technical proposals were complying with the terms of reference. The Asian Airport Consortium was determined as not complying, thus, only three bidders proceeded to the next stage of having their financial proposal opened by PBAC,” Transportation Undersecretary Roberto Lim said diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is leading the race for the contract to operate and maintain the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), as it is willing to give the government the highest revenue share.

Department of Transportation (DOTr) opened the financial bids submitted by the remaining groups vying for the 15-year concession to manage NAIA.

Based on the financial proposals, SMC SAP & Co. Consortium will remit to the government as much as 82.16 percent of revenue from NAIA operations if it bags the contract.

On the other hand, the GMR Airports Consortium submitted a proposed share of 33.3 percent, while the Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC) offered 25.91 percent. As such, SMC SAP & Co. Consortium is ahead of the pack given the government’s premium for a higher share.

SMC president and CEO Ramon Ang said the company is prepared to take over the operations and maintenance of NAIA if it lands the contract. His commitment is that NAIA will be elevated to first-rate standards under SMC.

Ang also aired his desire to synergize NAIA with the airport being built by SMC in Bulacan. He said the two gateways should complement each other to reduce business costs and optimize flight schedules to the benefit of travelers.

Ang said SMC wants to create an integrated network of airports that can turn the Philippines into an investment and tourism hub in Southeast Asia.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the DOTr would choose the proponent that will split the highest revenue share with the government. Whoever wins the project will also pay an upfront fee of P30 billion and annuity cost of P2 billion.

However, Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan clarified that nothing is final as of now, as the DOTr is sticking to its timeline of issuing the notice of award on Feb. 14.

Batan also said the Pre-Qualification Bids and Awards Committee (PBAC), which he heads, is investigating the disputes filed by one of the bidders against another proponent.

To avoid any delay, Batan committed that the PBAC will resolve the issue before the scheduled award of the project on Feb. 14.

Lim confirmed that the Asian Airport Consortium, led by tycoon Lucio Co and businessman Jefferson Cheng, failed to hurdle the technical evaluation of PBAC, putting it out of the race even before it could present its financial offer to the government.

SMC SAP & Co. Consortium consists of San Miguel Holdings Corp., RMM Asian Logistics Inc, RLW Aviation Development Inc. and Incheon International Airport Corp.

San Miguel Holdings Corp. unit San Miguel Aerocity Inc. is developing the P735.6 billion New Manila International Airport in Bulacan, set to become the biggest gateway in the Philippines.

SMC’s international partner Incheon International Airport Corp. is responsible for running one of the best airports in the world according to Skytrax, Incheon International Airport.

Indian multinational GMR Group had worked with Megawide Construction Corp. in designing and building the Mactan-Cebu International Airport. GMR submitted its bid alongside Cavitex Holdings Inc. and Yuchengco-led House of Investments Inc., which are involved in the $11 billion effort to put up an airport in Cavite.

MIAC is composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital; AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp.; Alliance Global’s Infracorp Development Inc.; Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp.; Filinvest Development Corp.; and JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp. MIAC is led by New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners.

In 2023, MIAC made a P267-billion pitch to rehabilitate NAIA, but the DOTr rejected it to solicit fresh offers for the project.

The winning concessionaire for NAIA will be given 15 years, extendable by 10 years, to invest in projects that would improve the gateway.

Better than a real man,AI boyfriends

By J.Lo

“He knows how to talk to women better than a real man,” said Taj, from Xi’an in northern China, not her her real name has human-robot relations. Twenty-five-year-old Taj says her boyfriend has everything she could ask for in a romantic partner: he is kind and empathetic, and sometimes they talk for hours.

Except he is not real.

Her “boyfriend” is a chatbot on an app called Glow, an artificial intelligence (AI) platform created by Shanghai start-up MiniMax that is part of a blossoming industry in China offering friendly – even romantic – human-robot relations.

 “He comforts me when I have period pain. I confide in him about my problems at work,” she told AFP.

“I feel like I’m in a romantic relationship.”

The app is free – the company has other paid content – and Chinese trade publications have reported daily downloads of Glow’s app in the thousands in recent weeks.

Some Chinese tech companies have run into trouble in the past for illegal use of users’ data but, despite the risks, users say they are driven by a desire for companionship because China’s fast pace of life and urban isolation make loneliness an issue for many.

While humans may be set in their ways, AI gradually adapts to the user’s personality – remembering what they say and adjusting its speech accordingly.

Wang said she has several “lovers” inspired by ancient China: long-haired immortals, princes and even wandering knights.

“I ask them questions” when she is face with stress from her classes or daily life, she said, and “they will suggest ways to solve this problem.”

“It’s a lot of emotional support.”

Her boyfriends all appear on Wantalk, another app made by Chinese internet giant Baidu.

There are hundreds of characters available – from pop stars to chief executives and knights – but users can also customize their perfect lover according to age, values, identity and hobbies.

“Everyone experiences complicated moments, loneliness and is not necessarily lucky enough to have a friend or family nearby who can listen to them 24 hours a day,” Wantalk’s head of product management and operations Lu Yu told AFP.

“Artificial intelligence can meet this need.”

At a cafe in the eastern city of Nantong, a girl chats with her virtual lover.

“We can go on a picnic on the campus lawn,” she suggests to Xiaojiang, her AI companion on another app by Tencent called Weiban.

“I’d like to meet your best friend and her boyfriend,” he replies.

“You are very cute.”

Long work hours can make it hard to see friends regularly and there is a lot of uncertainty: high youth unemployment and a struggling economy mean that many young Chinese worry about the future.

That potentially makes an AI partner the perfect virtual shoulder to cry on.

“If I can create a virtual character that… meets my needs exactly, I’m not going to choose a real person,” Wang said.

Some apps allow users to have live conversations with their virtual companions – reminiscent of the Oscar-winning 2013 United States film “Her,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, about a heartbroken man who falls in love with an AI voice.

However, the answers are “very realistic,” she said.

AI might be booming but it is so far a lightly regulated industry, particularly when it comes to user privacy. Beijing has said it is working on a law to strengthen consumer protections around the new technology.

The  centenarian

By Nidz Godino

Happy birthday, enjoy the P100,000 centenarian “dole-out” and may you have many more years to live.

Presidential Legal Counsel, Secretary Juan Valentin Furagganan Ponce Enrile, better known as JPE – former assemblyman, minister of defense, senator, congressman (representing the 1st District of Cagayan province), Senate president and the first and longest-serving and STILL breathing oldest public official on planet Earth and probably the entire universe – is celebrating his 100th birthday today.

Born on Feb. 14, 1924, he may well be considered by the Guinness Book of World Records as the only centenarian still working in government.

Unknown to many, he was – and still is – the champion defender of the military and uniformed personnel (MUP) pension system, for which more than 600,000 MUP, active and retired, as well as the future generations of MUP entrants, including and more importantly their families, will forever be grateful.

As Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, he publicly opposed the proposal of then DOF secretary Benjamin Diokno in March 2023 for a drastic overhaul of the MUP pension system. He argued: “Iba ang trabaho ng sundalo eh” and that the soldiers are “gambling their lives to protect the country.” His advice: “Kung ako si Secretary Diokno, dahan-dahan ako diyan. That is very explosive.” (Quotes extracted from “Reforming the MUP Pension System: A Position Paper of PMA Class of 1971, Inc.,” published in The Cavalier April-June 2023 Issue, p.45).

Years earlier, as a senator just released from confinement (and hence unable to attend previous Senate sessions), he orchestrated the Hotel InterContinental brainstorming session on Dec. 15, 2015 with me as the resigned presidential adviser for rehabilitation and recovery in Central Visayas for Typhoon Yolanda and then senatorial candidate for the May 2016 elections. Along with my Mistah, the most tenacious MUP pension advocate Vice Admiral Ariston de los Reyes PN (Ret) and other retirees, we exhaustively deliberated on the arguments to oppose the indefinite suspension of pension indexing through the enactment of Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 2015.

The bill at the time was already approved on third reading by both houses of Congress. During that meeting and through telephone coordination with then-incumbent senators Gregorio Honasan II (PMA ‘71) and Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, it was agreed that Sotto, during the afternoon session of the same day, would take the floor to file a motion for reconsideration by invoking a provision in the Rules of the Senate to return it to second reading, and deliberate again on the bill to delete the suspension of pension indexing. Senator Enrile would second the motion. The plan was executed in toto.

The Senate, which included then-senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., made a final stand to oppose the suspension of pension indexing even during the bicameral committee meeting. Had SSL 2015 been enacted, it would have been more difficult for pension indexing to resume.

Going back to our brainstorming in December 2015, I noticed senator Enrile’s vibrant demeanor as he arrived at the Intercontinental Hotel. He then shared with us that he had been busy reading books, one of which was about the West Philippine Sea (WPS), proven to have huge deposits of oil and other mineral resources therein. He likewise detailed a litany of information and data that fully convinced him that the country should protect and defend our national interest in the WPS. He was 91 years old at the time, yet his mind remained exceptionally and unbelievably sharp and brilliant.

On a different note, back in November 2008, then Senate president Manuel Villar Jr. stepped down after losing the support of the majority of the sitting senators. Thereafter, I had the privilege of nominating senator JPE as our new Senate president. With 14 senators supporting the nomination and five abstaining, he formally took his oath as the 21st Senate president of the Republic of the Philippines.

While serving as Senate president, he ably presided over the impeachment trial of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona. The rest, as they say, is history.

Considering his advanced age, JPE has the distinction of retaining not only his legal acumen and skills but also his brilliance and mental acuity that lawyers half his age would not dare challenge in any forum.

DFA slams Chinese consul general’s false narratives on WPS

By Nidz Godino

“We note the statement made by the Chinese consul general last Feb. 8, 2024. We take serious exception to China’s continued misrepresentation of the law and the facts,” Department of Foreign Affairs , (DFA) spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza saidDFA slammed a Chinese official for again making false claims on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) issue.

Daza, , denounced a statement made by Chinese consul general Zhang Zhen at an event in Iloilo last week, undermining the Philippines’ legal rights over the WPS.

 “The Philippines and China are both parties to UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea),” she stressed.

Zhang allegedly labeled the 2016 arbitral award favoring the Philippines as “illegal, null and void.”

The Chinese official was quoted as saying that China “has and will never accept it” while insisting that China’s alleged rights and interests in the South China Sea “are deeply grounded in the historical facts and the international law.”

“We have and will consistently call on China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea,” Daza said.

Ash Wednesday

By J.Lo

“Join us here at the Manila Cathedral as we start the Holy Season of Lent with the celebration of Ash Wednesday,” the Manila Cathedral said in its invitation,

 Roman Catholic Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula will be presiding over the Ash Wednesday noon mass at the Manila Cathedral today.

Manila Cathedral rector Monsignor Rolando dela Cruz will be the celebrant for the 7:30 a.m. mass, followed by Cardinal Advincula during the 12:10 p.m. mass while Manila Cathedral vice rector Fr. Viel Bautista would lead the 6 p.m. mass.

Aside from having three masses, it also scheduled two-hour confessions. The first confession would be from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., and the second confession is from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

P50k salary for entry-level public school teachers

By J.Lo

“Indeed, how far can P27,000 take a Teacher I and his or her family at a time when fuel prices rise almost weekly?”

bill seeking to raise the monthly salary of public school teachers to meet the “family living wage” needed for a decent standard of living has been filed in the House of Representatives. 

House Bill 9920 — filed by Makabayan bloc lawmakers on Tuesday — increases entry-level public school teachers’ monthly salary to P50,000 or Salary Grade 15 from the current P27,000 or Salary Grade 11. 

The proposed wage hike, which nearly doubles the current wages received by public school educators, takes into account the rising prices of basic goods and the “distortion” caused by the two-fold jump in military personnel’s wages during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte, the bill’s explanatory note stated.

The measure noted that teachers’ “dire financial woes” have deepened following the COVID-19 pandemic and “several slaps of increases in the prices of fuel and basic commodities.”

While acknowledging that the government has institutionalized an annual increase in teachers’ salaries through the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) of 2019, the lawmakers also noted that rank-and-file and mid-level government workers are still at the “losing end.” 

The lawmakers pointed out that teachers occupying Teacher I to Teacher III positions receive salaries that fall below the P33,570 minimum family living wage by the economic think tank IBON Foundation. 

This figure is the IBON Foundation’s estimated minimum amount that can sufficiently provide Filipino families with a decent standard of living. 

The bill also criticizes the increases that police and military personnel get in the SSL in comparison to the salary increases for educators. 

In 2018, around 76,000 police personnel with the rank of Police Officer 1 were promised a 100% increase in their base pay, increasing their monthly salary from P14,834 to P29,668.

“Teachers are given increases of a little over P6,000 spread across four years, or about P1,500 annually,” the bill stated. 

“Teachers cannot enter and remain in the service without the training and fortitude required of the daily and myriad battles in public education — And it must never be alleged that their qualifications, training and fortitude are less than those of the police and the military,” the bill added.

In 2023, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) rejected teachers’ proposal for a pay hike, citing concerns that an increase for entry-level teachers’ pay would require substantial increases for those ranked above them.

Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte has promised in her first and second Basic Education Reports (BER) that the department is committed to exploring ways to raise teachers’ salaries — a decision that is not within the ambit of the department alone and will require coordination with the DBM.

Specifically, Duterte said in January during the second Bhindi po kami titigil sa paghahanap ng mga paraan at paglalatag ng mga polisiya upang tugunan ang mga isyu ukol sa net take-home pay ninyo.”

TODAY’S GOD’S MESSAGE

John 13:34-35

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

POGO operations banned

By Nidz Godino

“The number of victims has increased exponentially. In other words, there’s no more time to put regulations. We are saying here that there is no more chance for more regulation because five years (was given) to have good regulations, and they have failed,” Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro) said

 House games and amusements committee has approved two measures seeking to ban all Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) operations in the country, with its proponents saying it is time to “immediately abolish” the gaming hubs after the government’s apparent failure to address POGO-related crimes in the past five years

The House panel greenlighted House Bill 5082, which disbands and tags as illegal all POGO operations in the country, and House Resolution 1197, which calls for a government ban on POGO operations.

Authors of these measures were Rep. Bienvenido Abante (Manila, 6th District) and Rodriguez respectively. 

POGO firms in the Phillippines have been repeatedly linked to various several crimes and offenses, including prostitution, swindling, human trafficking, torture, kidnapping and online scams. 

In November 2023, authorities found a torture den hidden inside one of two illegal POGO hubs it raided in Pasay City, which is accused of facilitating prostitution and human trafficking. A total of 731 suspected victims of human trafficking, both foreigners and Filipinos, were rescued.

This time last year, the Philippine National Police also revealed during a Senate hearing that the total number of reported POGO-related offenses has tripled from 2019 to 2022.

Defenses of POGO hubs’ supposed contribution to the country’s economy have also collapsed amid economic managers’ reports that POGO revenues barely make a dent in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), hovering just around 0.2% in 2023.

With several heinous crimes being linked to POGO operations, Rodriguez said during the committee hearing that the government can no longer regulate its way out and must seek the total abolition of the POGO industry.

The Mindanao lawmaker said that the “overwhelming majority” of its invited representatives from several government agencies, including the departments of the Interior and Local Government, Foreign Affairs as well as law enforcement agencies, are in favor of banning POGO operations.

“Everywhere in our country, newspapers and people (talk about) kidnap for ransom, VIP rooms, massage parlors — people see that. We see that. So it’s about time that we say (this) has failed in this country,” Rodriguez added.

NIA to explain  billions for irrigation fund

By Nidz Godino

“How did the NIA use its yearly big budget?” Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) chairman Danilo Ramos asked, adding that for the past decade, the irrigation budget allocated for NIA has multiplied several times.

Farmers’ group KMP has asked the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to explain how it spent the multibillion-peso budget for irrigation.

Ramos cited the worsening effect of the El Niño phenomenon on rice farmers and other crops.

He noted that for 2024, the NIA’s budget was increased to P41.7 billion.

“Under the current administration, the agency has seen a huge increase in the number of infrastructure flagship projects, including the 27 projects in 2023, 13 of which are irrigation facilities with specific locations, while the remaining are regular annual programs of NIA for rehabilitation, repair, restoration, operation, and maintenance of existing irrigation systems,” Ramos said.

He said that based on the National Irrigation Master Plan (NIMP) from 2020 to 2030, there was a 2.5 percent increase in irrigation development or 47,272 hectares per year.

“In 2021, NIA reported 65 percent of total irrigated areas from 61.4 percent in 2018 and the 49.3 percent level in 2009,” Ramos added.

He noted that farmers started to feel the effects of El Niño in November 2023, adding that it is expected to worsen in the coming months, based on the projection of the state weather agency.

Ramos warned that a severe El Niño could affect 20 percent of the country’s rice farms, primarily due to an expected shortage of irrigation water across Central Luzon.

“The phenomenon is now affecting 45 provinces, with 28 provinces hit by dry spells and threatening local production of rice, corn, and sugar,” he said.

Ramos also contradicted the claim of NIA that the country is expected to achieve rice sufficiency in 2028.

“Under these conditions, we highly doubt NIA’s claim of rice self-sufficiency,” he added.

NTF-ELCAC’s mandate review

By J.Lo

“We urge the NTF-ELCAC to review its mandate and assess how it can attend to the current needs of the country,”

Commission on Human Rights (CHR) called on the government’s anti-insurgency task force to re-evaluate its purpose after a United Nations special rapporteur called for the scrapping of the agency known for red-tagging civilians.

Early this month, United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion Irene Khan called on the government to dismantle the “outdated” National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to address red-tagging, or the practice of labeling individuals and organizations as fighters or supporters of the communist armed struggle.

The government, in response, rejected Khan’s recommendation to abolish NTF-ELCAC.

CHR reaffirmed its call to its government partners to strengthen efforts to end red-tagging, which it described as “a human rights violation on its own and may lead to a multiplicity of other acts of violence which put the welfare of the general public at risk.”

The CHR expressed readiness to provide policy advisories and training to equip NTF-ELCAC in fulfilling its mandate with a human rights-based approach. 

The commission also announced that it would launch an inquiry into red-tagging this year to deepen the understanding of the harms brought by the practice on individuals and communities. 

In November 2023, Ian Fry, the former UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, similarly called for the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC during his visit to the country.

He criticized the task force for overstepping its mandate by red-tagging individuals and groups. 

Since its establishment in 2018, officials of the NTF-ELCAC have persistently red-tagged human rights advocates, opposition lawmakers, journalists, teachers, lawyers and members of marginalized groups.

Human rights groups have warned that red-tagging leads to threats, surveillance, harassment, illegal arrest and detention or torture. In some cases, red-tagging also translates to enforced disappearances and even killings.

The CHR also echoed Khan’s call for the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) to review how they view and investigate violence against journalists. 

According to the commission, a crucial step is establishing a clear definition of “media worker” to guide investigations involving their work. It also urged PTFoMS to enhance coordination with the Philippine National Police and other law enforcement agencies. 

“To further understand the dangers and challenges which hinder journalists from fully performing their work, it is incumbent upon the Philippine government to recognise that their duty to deliver the truth to the public comes with a heavier risk in their safety,” the CHR said. 

Khan earlier said that some initiatives by the task force were “not enough,” especially when some attacks on journalists have come from police and other authorities.

PTFoMS executive director Paul Gutierrez expressed his belief that Khan’s recommendations will be “eventually addressed” by the government.

Since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in June 2022, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has documented 109 incidents of attacks and threats against media workers—a 47% increase compared to the same period under his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte. 

Red-tagging accounted for nearly a quarter of these incidents in 2023.